June 11, 2024 Newsletter
In This Edition:
1. APS Adopts $826 Million Budget But Needs Fiscal Sustainability
2. School Board Nears Adoption of Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)
3. APS Should Implement Away for the Day Policy
4. Parent's Corner: Special Education Staff Shortages are Worsening
5. June 6th School Board Meeting Recap
6. What's Happening Soon
APS Adopts $826 Million Budget But Still
Needs Fiscally Sustainable Path
APS adopted an $826.3 million budget at the June 6th School Board meeting, modestly higher than Superintendent Durà n’s original proposal of $824.7 million. At the time of proposal, APS faced a significant shortfall of $29.5 million (discussed here and here). However, the shortfall was overwhelmingly made up by additional one-time funding from the County and increased revenues from the 2-cent tax increase. The County transferred an additional $23.2 million to APS, of which $12.8 million resulted from the property tax increase. Additionally, the final budget adopted by the state increased funding above Governor Youngkin’s original proposal by $7.8 million, including amounts for VPI and certain restricted purposes (see slides 2 and 5 of the APS presentation for changes in revenues).
Despite these revenue increases, the final budget reflected very modest changes. Key changes include:
A 1% cost of living adjustment was increased to 1.25 % (+ $1.6 million)
Restoration of Dual Language Immersion FTEs and resources related to the switch to an 80/20 Immersion model (+ $459,087)
Addition of an hourly grant writer (+ $94,500)
School Board salary increase as of January 1, 2025 (+ $67,250).
Additional elimination of 2 unfilled Central Office positions (-$247,525)
Additional 3% reduction to Central Office Discretionary Accounts (-$2.2 million)
Why It Matters: While APS largely avoided cuts to schools and student-facing positions in this budget, our School Board members all agreed that the next few years will be challenging for APS. Additionally, APS has largely exhausted its reserves (pg 40) to balance this budget. Over the last few years, APE has advocated for an increase in both one-time funding and in the County revenue share for APS (see 2022 and 2023 letters to the County Board), as well as more funding from the General Assembly. At the same time, we have warned that APS will face structural deficits in future years (also see Mary Kadera’s earlier remarks here). Significant increases in state funding for APS is unlikely because APS is a wealthy county and expected to pay 80% of its own way, which Bethany Zecher-Sutton also explained at the June 6th School Board meeting (starting at 1:44).
Our Take: We are encouraged by comments in last week’s joint CIP work session and the School Board meeting that our County Board and School Board members plan to meet this summer to “find a path towards fiscal sustainability” for APS. However, this work comes at a time of flattening enrollments for the next decade and falling birth rates (25% in Arlington County from 2015-2022). Despite those trends, we recognize that APS will not be able to cut its way to financial solvency without deeply unpopular cuts, class-size increases, or falling further behind on teacher compensation. We continue to support an increase in the County’s revenue share for APS, but strongly urge greater fiscal stewardship of APS resources and increased collaboration between the County and APS.
School Board Nears Adoption of Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)
The School Board adopted the Superintendent’s Proposal as its Proposed 2025-2034 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), an important procedural step before final adoption on June 20th. APS’ CIP is a 10-year facilities and financial plan for a wide range of projects and is a companion to the County CIP, because APS shares bonding capacity with Arlington County. The CIP is also the basis for APS’ bond funding request for the November 5th election, which is currently proposed at nearly $84 million. Briefly, the CIP essentially requests two new years of bond funding for projects proposed in this CIP, while projects in the remaining eight years are subject to change in future CIPs. APS assumes bond referendum placeholders of $100 million for future CIPs in 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032 and also updates its estimates of future debt service for these assumptions.
Of the $84 million proposed for the 2024 CIP bond, APS allocates that bond as follows:
$45 million for the renovation of the Legacy Career Center for the Montessori Public School of Arlington (previously contemplated at $15 million in the 2023-2032 CIP; see slide 13)
$25 million for other “Major Infrastructure Projects”
$11 million for kitchen and entrance renovations at Barrett, Carlin Springs, Science Focus, and Ashlawn
$2.4 million for APS’ share of the Kenmore field conversion
The proposed CIP also allocates nearly $15 million from capital reserves for various purposes, including $4 million for “deep dive” feasibility studies for up to five sites, including Jefferson Middle School, Taylor Elementary, Barrett Elementary, Swanson Middle School and Randolph Elementary School. Future CIP placeholders allocate $302 million for “Long Range Plan Development” and $125 million for “Major Infrastructure Projects.”
Why It Matters: APS has significant facility needs. In its Long-Range Plan to Renovate Existing School Facilities, APS indicated there was an “increased need to address deferred renovation, maintenance, and modernization needs on existing buildings”. This is also consistent with one of the County’s guiding CIP principles to maintain existing facilities. In the last decade, APS faced the challenge of explosive enrollment growth, requiring new construction to increase seats. Now APS’ projections have leveled off for the next decade, allowing APS to catch up on deferred maintenance.
At the same time, public documents indicate that the proposed CIP will add nearly $93 million in debt service over the next decade relative to assumptions in the last CIP. While most of the proposed work in this and future CIPs will be covered by bonds, debt service for the bonds is paid for out of APS’ operating budget, and APS is currently on an unsustainable budgetary path. APS faces the challenge of how to address long-deferred maintenance on existing facilities while also navigating a decade of flat enrollment and near-term budget constraints.
Our Take: We agree with the guiding principles in the County’s Proposed CIP, namely to prioritize existing facilities, acknowledge impacts of debt service on the operating budget and the need to plan for the future. However, we continue to advocate for greater collaboration between the County and APS and that begins with sharing guiding principles for a decade-long facilities plan.
APS Should Implement Away for the Day
to Curb Disruption from Personal Devices
We strongly encourage Arlington Public Schools (APS) to implement an “Away for the day” personal device policy for the 2024-2025 school year to improve educational outcomes. Such a policy can be successfully launched at little to no cost to APS.
Why It Matters: Science supports an Away For the Day policy in educational settings to improve students’ learning. Research has shown that the presence of phones in classrooms harms academic achievement as well as social-emotional health, while the removal of cell phones during instructional time increases understanding of coursework and reduces anxiety.
Now that we know the detrimental impacts of personal devices on students' personal well-being and their opportunity to learn and access curriculum, the sense of urgency is greater than ever before. School systems across the country, including our neighbors in Fairfax County, are implementing policies to curb these negative impacts, and experiencing many successes.
APE is proposing that APS set clear rules, processes, and consequences to limit personal device usage at school. As part of this policy initiative, it is imperative that APS share the statistics and research which underpin the decision with the entire school administration and its teachers and staff, so that all entities involved understand the stakes and are invested in its success.
Our Take: Many common misconceptions regarding Away for the Day policies exist but can be easily cleared up. See our piece here for more detail. There will always be a portion of the population who are against change. For the past four years, APS’ School Health Advisory Board’s annual recommendation has included the need for a personal device policy. The School board has declined to act on this recommendation for four years now. See our recent letter to the Superintendent on this important topic. We must focus on the dangers and harms associated with not acting, and remain committed to designing a policy that will protect students and help them be successful—both interpersonally and academically.
Email the School Board members in support - template email here.
Parent's Corner: Special Education Staffing
Shortages are Worsening
By Reade Bush
Editor's Note: From time to time we will offer op-eds, which are the unedited perspectives of an APS parent or teacher on a topic of interest or concern to APS.
APS has 45 unfilled special education teacher positions for the 2024-2025 school year, according to staff at the May Arlington Special Education Advisory Committee (ASEAC) meeting. At the same time in 2023, APS had about 35 openings. In addition, the APS website currently has 49 unfilled special education positions for extended school year (ESY), the federally mandated summer program for special education students, which runs from July 8 - August 4.
The shortages have been particularly acute for the countywide special education programs, such as Life Skills and the MIPA program for autistic students. Several MIPA classrooms had no special education teacher during the Fall of 2023. APS filled the openings with long-term substitutes who have no teaching or special education certifications.
School systems nationwide have been plagued by a shortage of special education teachers for more than a decade. Last year, APS was nearly 98% staffed by August 7th, and yet the majority of unfilled positions were for special education. The APS Office of Special Education indicated that APS is losing teachers to neighboring jurisdictions that pay more. Other jurisdictions offer premium pay or signing bonuses for special ed teachers.
Without proper staffing, APS is unable to provide proper support and instruction for special education students, whose educational needs are defined by Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). The specialized needs of these students may not be met, leading to behavioral struggles and a lack of progress related to educational goals, which are set forth in IEPs. For example, students with dyslexia may not get proper reading support; autistic students may not have proper support and growth related to communication or social skills. The failure of APS to deliver services specified in IEPs also results in non-compliance with state and federal laws for disabled students. At the May ASEAC meeting, multiple parents cited issues with non-compliance, resulting in parents filing VDOE special education complaints.
It is particularly urgent for APS to remain competitive for SpEd staffing. Given the worsening staffing shortages, APS should look to implement immediate remedies to be competitive with other jurisdictions, including offering premium pay to special educators, or offering these teachers hiring and retention bonuses.
June 6th School Board Meeting Recap
The June 6th School Board meeting included a FY 2024 3rd Quarter Fiscal monitoring report, adoption of the FY25 Final Budget and the School Board adoption of the Proposed FY 25-24 Capitol Improvement Plan (CIP) and information items on Social Study and Spanish Resource Adoption and the Proposed 2024-30 Strategic Plan Implementation & Monitoring Elements.
Read the more about the public comment and strategic plan in the recap here.
Happening Soon
Tuesday, June 11, 7 - 9 pm, Public Hearing on Proposed CIP. Sign up to speak. Syphax. Watch live.
Wednesday, June 12, 9:30 - 11 am, Brookings' "Screens and children's well-being: The latest evidence of technology's impact on mental health and education" panel discussion. Online only. Register to watch online.
Thursday, June 20, 7 pm, School Board Meeting. Sign up to speak. Syphax. Watch live.
Monday, June 24, 8 am, Policy Subcommittee Meeting. Syphax, Suite 260.
Monday, June 24, 7 - 9 pm, Office Hours with School Board Member Mary Kadera. Virtual. Sign up.
Friday, June 28, 8 am, Audit Committee Meeting. Syphax, Suite 260
Don't forget! You can subscribe to APS School Calendars here.
